316 National GeograjpMc Magazine. 



In 1529 the connection of the lakes with the Caribbean sea 

 was discovered, and during the last half of the eighteenth cen- 

 tury a considerable commerce was carried on by this route 

 between Granada on Lake Nicaragua and the cities of Nombre 

 de Dios, Cartagena, Havana and Cadiz. 



In 1821 Nicaragua threw off the rule of the mother country 

 and in 1823 formed with her sister Spanish colonies, a confedera- 

 tion. This confederation was dissolved in 1838, and since then 

 Nicaragua has conducted her own affairs. In point of advance- 

 ment, financial solidity and stability of government she stands to- 

 day nearly, if not quite, at the head of the Central American 

 republics, 



Nicaragua extends over a little more than four degrees each of 

 latitude and longitude, from about N. 11° to N. 15° and from 

 83° 20' W. to 87° 40' W. 



Its longest side is the northern border from the Gulf of Fon- 

 seca northeasterly to Cape Gracias a Dios, two hundred and ninety 

 miles. From that cape south to the mouth of the Rio San Juan, 

 the Caribbean coast line, is two hundred and fifty miles. Nearly 

 due west across the Isthmus to Salinas Bay on the Pacific, is one 

 hundred and twenty miles. The Pacific coast line extends thence 

 northwest one hundred and sixty miles. 



In point of size Nicaragua stands first among the Central 

 American republics having an area of 51,600 square miles. It is 

 larger than either the State of New York or Pennsylvania, about 

 the size of Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland 

 combined, and is one-fourth as large as France or Germany. Its 

 population numbers about 300,000. 



The Gulf of Fonseca, at the northern, and Salinas Bay at the 

 southern extremity of the coast line are two of the finest and 

 largest harbors on the Pacific coast of Central America. About 

 midway between them is the fine harbor of Corinto, and there 

 are also several other ports along the coast, at San Juan del Sur, 

 Brito and Tamarindito. On the Caribbean coast no harbors suit- 

 able for large vessels exist, but numerous lagoons and bights 

 afford the best of shelter for coasting vessels. 



The central portion of Nicaragua is traversed, from north to 

 south, by the main cordillera of the isthmus, which, here greatly 

 reduced in altitude, consists merelj^ of a confused mass of peaks 

 and ridges with an average elevation scarcely exceeding 1,000 

 feet. 



